Colors: Birthday
by Watercolor Ink
Summary: The annual Kyuubi Festival, and also Naruto's birthday.  Not that anyone's ever cared, except for the villagers who like to torch him on this day.  Things change when Sasuke and Sakura step in. Naru angst, Team 7 friendship fic


umm...yah. Its not Naruto's birthday (on the day I'm submitting this) and I should be updating one of my major stories instead of writing this, but I really wanted to. This is the longest oneshot I've ever done, and its like +3000 words. I like angst. I like Naruto angst, and Naruto alone of birthday fics. yes.

Rated for some cussing...um, theres some fire and kunai throwing, but mostly...its Naruto's birthday, and no one ever comes. Until someone comes, but nor for the reason he thinks. NOT YAOI! Team 7 friendship fic.

Disclaimer: I spent all day writing. YOU think of a witty disclaimer.

* * *

"Happy birthday to me…"

"Happy birthday to me…" The words echoed in the small run down apartment. They came from the spiky haired blond boy who sat on his bed. Or what appeared to be a bed; the mattress was filthy and contained several holes. His legs hung limply over the side, and his face was shadowed as he dropped his head. His hands gripped the torn up sheets so hard his knuckles were white.

Outside, the preparations for the annual "Kyuubi-Sealing" Festival were being put up, but the laughter and happiness from below couldn't seem to penetrate the darkness of the room above.

"Happy birthday dear me…" Naruto sang softly, tears spilling down his cheeks. Despite this his face was calm, or maybe simply controlled. He was used to this, after all, this loneliness. He didn't even bother trying to remember when someone had come to his birthday. He didn't bother inviting anyone either, because even if he did throw a party, everyone would go to the festival instead. It wasn't self pity- it was the truth.

He knew, or he thought at least, that he had people who cared. Iruka-sensei had treated him to ramen once or twice on this day, and Kakashi-sensei had said "happy birthday" in that cool way of his, last year. Neither Sasuke or Sakura had ever done anything, but than again they probably didn't even know when his birthday was. What about Konohamaru? Or Gaara, or Kiba, or any of the other genin? Maybe they didn't know either… that was what he willed himself to believe, but inside something was telling him no one came because no one cared.

He never went to the celebrations. He had never thought about doing so: Kyuubi was grumpy enough without having to heal the wounds that would undoubtly be inflicted on him if he showed up. Last year he had even stepped out of his apartment complex…only to be punched square in the face by a villager, who demanded why he was bastardizing their festival. He had hurried back inside before a mob formed.

Looking at his hands, he wondered what they would try this time. Once they had thrown explosive seals attached to kunai through his poorly patched window, and another they had locked him within the tiny closet. These things weren't the real problem, though; the real problem was that he was always alone at these times, vulnerable and afraid. He hated being afraid. His cerulean eyes clouded over in pain as he remember so many nights and days, birthday or not, where he had been alone, afraid, and cornered by those who hated him.

""Happy birthday to me." He whispered.

* * *

Sakura winked gleefully at herself from in front of the mirror. She wore a beautiful red kimono with pink cherry blossoms flowing across it. Her hair was tied up in a clean bun and a few shiny pink strands fell loose across her forehead. Her green eyes shone with excitement as she prepared for the festival.

As the night drew nearer, as did the start of the celebrations, she picked up the phone and dialed Sasuke's number, one she had memorized many years ago. She felt her stomach squeeze with happiness when a click on the other line signaled Sasuke had actually picked up the phone this time.

"Sasuke-kun!" She cried into the receiver. At first their was silence, then, a very unconcerned, "What?"

"Come to the festival with me Sasuke-sun!" She squealed.

"…No."

"Please Sasuke-sun! It'll be fun!"

"I said no. Go ask Naruto or something." Sakura pondered over this for a moment before giggling in delight.

"Okay! We'll all go, as Team 7! Pick you up in an hour, then we'll go get Naruto!" She quickly hung up the phone before he had time to protest. Which he did.

"Wait…wait what?" He said to the dead line. With a scowl he hung up his phone.

True to her word, Sakura appeared on his doorstep after an hour.

She practically drooled when he stepped outside. He was wearing sleek traditional clothes, which were black and covered with deep, dark blue flames, and an Uchiha symbol on his right arm. The clothes were elegant and loose, which promised a masculine body underneath. Sakura took a deep intake of breath to stop herself from screaming in pure love.

"Lets go." Sasuke said, although his voice was monotone. She gave a happy nod and followed him to Naruto's house.

Both stared in disgust when they came upon the apartment complex where Naruto lived. They had never been in it, only seen Naruto enter from a distance. From a distance you couldn't see its rotting walls and unhinged door. They felt a little guilty when they realized this was probably where Naruto had spent most of his life.

Entering, they climbed the stairs to his room, the only one that had a closed and working door. Sakura knocked on it vigorously.

Naruto jumped in surprise when he heard a banging on his door. He felt his breath quicken with fear, as he suspected angry villagers, but then he realized they would just have knocked the door down.

"Naruto?" Came Sakura's voice. Naruto grinned in relief and happiness. Had she come to tell him 'happy birthday?'

"Hurry up." And Sasuke too? He threw open the door happily. Only to find them both dressed in nice festival clothes, and staring at him in surprise. He was only in jeans and an orange t-shirt.

"Where are your clothes?" Sakura cried.

"I..um…" Naruto looked away, ashamed.

"Well, get them on." Sasuke muttered. Naruto stared at him in confusion.

"We're going to the festival as a team this year!" Sakura explained, walking into his apartment. She froze as she looked around. His house was a compete disaster, filthy, and run down. Sasuke couldn't hide a look of concern as he too stepped in and looked around.

"Oh, um, I don't go to festivals." Naruto said as he shooed them both outside again.

"Why not? What's with your house?" Sakura spewed. Ignoring her second question, Naruto simply said, "I'm not allowed to come."

Sasuke felt more than a little confused as he watched the other boy's face. Normally so cheerful and idiotic, he looked rather…sad and upset. It wasn't like him.

"Why not, dobe? You love parties and celebrations."

A look of hate and anger flitted across Naruto's face, taking them both by surprise.

"There is nothing to celebrate." He growled, before slamming the door and leaving them both in the hallway, shocked.

Naruto let his mask slip as he heard their footsteps grow fainter. His face contorted as tears streamed down his cheeks, dripping onto his clothes and the floor. He huddled against the door, hugging his knees as he realized what he had done. Sobs racked his body.

He had screwed up _again. _So what if they hadn't come for his birthday? They had come because they wanted to be with him, to have fun with him! They wanted to be there for him and he had slammed the door in their faces. Even Sasuke-teme had come.

But. But he couldn't go, not ever, even for his team. He knew he was separating himself more, creating more loneliness for himself, but he couldn't go with him. What he had really wanted was for them to stay there, away from the festivities outside which marked the beginning of all his pain. But he had seen the way they looked at his home. They would never stay here. They were disgusted by it, disgusted by him. He knew if they knew the truth, they would hate him, try to kill him as the older villagers did. This thought ripped his heart, causing him to sob and roll over onto his side. Not only Kyuubi…if they knew how weak and scared he was inside, under that mask of happiness, what would they think?

Naruto closed his eyes as he tried to block out the images his brain provided him.

* * *

"I don't understand." Sakura said quietly to Sasuke. The both sat on a bench not far from Naruto's house, and, quite frankly, neither of them understood.

"That baka!" She screamed, "Why won't he tell us what's going on!"

Sasuke gave her no answer, deep in his own thoughts. His thoughts were mostly of the pain in Naruto's eyes as he had told them he would not be going. Who would stop him? And why? He had no festive clothing, which was obvious considering the state of the apartment… but why? Hadn't he ever gone to a festival? Now that he thought about, he had never seen him at any of the many festivals in Konoha.

'He has no clothes." Sasuke told Sakura, cutting her off as she drew a breath to complain more.

She gave him an uncomprehending look, and then widened her eyes as she realized the meaning of this.

"We should buy him something!" She said, jumping up in enthusiasm, sounding very much like Naruto…or at least the Naruto they had known before tonight.

Sasuke nodded in agreement and they took off.

* * *

A few hours later, night had fallen and every so often a firework would go off, showering the village with dancing light and color. They had found an orange kitani (?) with a little black fox sewn into the side. They had agreed it fit- Naruto's whiskers had always made him seem…fox-like.

As they approached the apartment, they were surprised to see a crowd of people surrounding the building. Sprinting towards them, Sasuke and Sakura caught yells of,

"This time he'll die for sure!"

"He deserves! Demon-brat!"

Sasuke and Sakura exchanged glances filled with confusion. Was a demon inside Naruto's home?

"Hey!" Sakura shouted. "What's going on!" The man closest to her bent down, his eyes filled with malice and excitement.

"We're killing it!"

"Killing what?" Sasuke had to yell to be heard over the noise.

No one answered him, but all gazes were drawn to a tall man closest to the building. He had something in his hands…a log, it looked like. With a grunt he pitched it towards a window, throwing a match after it. It burst into flames and shattered the glass.

A small "fuck." Could be heard from inside.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried hysterically as the room started to glow orange and red with flames.

"Hey, Naruto!" Sasuke called, hoping, for godsake hoping, that that _was not _Naruto's apartment. But it was.

Something, no someone was jumping from the window, his clothes burning flames. He landed without a sound, like a cat, and stood there before the crowd, flaming.

Pain. Pain. And red, swirling flames, obstructing his vision. But not enough for him to miss the mob of people. Not enough for him to miss that Sasuke and Sakura, his teammates, his friends, his special people, were among that mob.

Something inside him snapped.

A roar sounded from deep within Naruto's throat, inhuman and deadly as it grasped the villagers with fear. They could only stand frozen as a red-eyed Naruto, still blazing, stalked towards them. Red chakra poured out of him, quelling the flames to reveal burnt clothes, but an unblemished body underneath. His canines grew long and sharp, until they were fangs.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed, falling to her knees in horror and shock. Sasuke stared equally shocked, his mouth moving but no words coming out.

The fox boy's expression changed from pure fury to one of eternal weariness. He stared at the pair in pain and hurt deeper than seemed possible, and suddenly Sasuke realized why he had never seen Naruto with any battle scars that so many of them wore, even him. His scars were all _inside._

"Hey…" He whispered quietly. "Naruto? We'd like to know what the hell is going on."

Everyone seemed to have forgotten the building that was flaming to ashes before them. They seemed to have forgotten the sobbing girl on her knees, and their fear of the terrible demon. All attention was focused on the Uchiha and the brat. The genius and the hated.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" Sasuke erupted in a flurry of kunai and wires, dashing towards Naruto with his Sharingan activated.

Sasuke. His best friend. He had always thought of him as a friend, and maybe a rival. When they were young, he would see Sasuke staring out onto open water, the boy would even jump in occasionally. The lake was on Naruto's way home; every day they would share grumpy looks of to-be rivals. Then, when each turned away, they would smile, true, warm, genuine smiles, and even though neither could see the other, each knew they shared their smiles.

This is what Naruto had always believed.

Now, he believed he had been wrong, because here came his "best friend" with hate in his eyes, just like everybody else. He knew kunai were coming his way, but he did not have the heart to dodge them.

Sasuke opened his red eyes wide when he saw the blades cut into Naruto's skin, piercing him deeply. Blood seeped from the wounds. Why hadn't he dodged?

He was tired of everything. He had thought to survive one more birthday, just as he had thought every year.

Was that still the dobe he knew? The one he had trained with and gone on missions with? The one who had dragged him back to Konoha unconscious because their bond had proved just that strong?

Kyuubi was filling him with hate. He was filling himself with bitterness and remorse.

He was filled with the overwhelming desire to help his friend in some way. He pulled the wires tight.

They enveloped him, holding him tighter and tighter. It was like a physical metaphor of his entire life. The life he had thought he escaped when he met Sasuke and Sakura.

What a joke.

Forcing his chakra out, he snapped the wires and ran.

Sakura had finally dried her tears and simply stared after him, dazed. Sasuke gripped the broken wires like they were a lifeline. The crowd began to dissipate, some were laughing.

Laughing, those bastards.

That was Sasuke's last thought before he was after Naruto, Sakura running with him, orange clothe clutched to her chest.

* * *

"Happy birthday to me..." He sang the words emotionlessly as he dipped his burnt and bloody orange t-shirt into one of Konoha's many rivers. He felt the cool relief of the running water envelop his hands, as it tried to drag away his shirt. He let it go, watched the orange blob float quickly out of site. He was shirtless now, dangerous for a cold October day like this, but he didn't really care. He couldn't seem to care much about anything right now.

He tensed in surprise as a shaking hand fell on his shoulder, swirling around, ready to run. He was faced with the cool, dark eyes of Uchiha Sasuke. The eyes were hiding some deeper emotion, but not one Naruto could identify. He wondered briefly if the raven-haired boy had a shuriken in his other hand, or something sharp. He spotted Sakura standing behind him, face pale and eyes wide.

"Naruto." Sasuke hissed.

"Sasuke." Naruto said coldly, his mask long gone. "Come to Katon me? I've kinda had enough fire for today."

There was the strike, the fist, the red mark on his face.

"You baka!" Sasuke huffed, His fist still in midair.

Naruto's face was blank as his hand was drawn to where Sasuke had punched him.

"We came to take you to a festival! You threw us out!" Naruto cringed as he saw that tears had begun to form at the edges of the now sharigan-less eyes, "We went through all the trouble of finding you a stupid suit…" Sasuke's voice was higher now, unbearably angry. "And we find that your house is being burned down!"

With his fist he grabbed Naruto's bare arm, perfect. No trace of fire ever having even touched the skin.

"What is this? You were burning Naruto! Burning!"

They sat like that for several moments, Sasuke glaring at Naruto, Naruto looking at him emotionlessly. Finally, the boy said,

"Today is my birthday."

The black clad boy and red dressed girl looked startled. His birthday? They had never even thought about his birthday…

"I...we didn't know…" Sasuke muttered.

"You never bothered to ask." Naruto said bitterly, and then gave them both cruel and mocking smiles. "You go to your party and laugh and drink and every year it's the same. Because if I go outside I'll be mauled, if I try to buy something nice I'll be ripped off, and if I expect someone to come say 'happy birthday' on my birthday, I'll be disappointed!"

He wrenched his arm away from Sasuke's grasp and looked down at the water miserably. Out of the corner of his cloudy blue eyes, he saw Sakura step forward, trembling. She was pale and her eyes were blank, but focused. On him.

"H…happy birthday, Naruto." She whispered, then thrust forward the bundle she had been carrying. It was a beautifully stitched orange cloth that reminded him of sunsets, with a little black fox stitched in such a manner that it would probably look like it was dancing if someone wearing it were walking. It was…a birthday gift. His first. He felt a bitterness run through him as he realized that this was his first gift in 14 years, which was immediately over run by sorrow and…happiness.

"You guys actually went out and…and got me…"

"Yes, you dobe."

Naruto started trembling, emotions swirling through him so fast he could hardly tell what each one was. Then, he was around both of them, hugging them and sobbing uncontrollably. He felt something deeper than immense relief when they both returned the embrace.

"I thought- I thought you didn't care…" Naruto whispered in-between sobs, "I thought you hated me, were disgusted by me…"

"W...well, y...you were wrong!" Sakura cried, tears falling from her own eyes now. Sasuke felt his eyes wet, but he wouldn't cry. He never cried. But he smiled, he always smiled, only this time it was not a small, secret one, it was a large, warm one, as he pulled Naruto closer.

They stayed like that for many minutes, oblivious to the lights and cheer from the other side of the village.

Finally, "Why don't we go to my place?"

Sakura and Naruto turned their heads to look at the Uchiha.

"We'll have our own party. A birthday party." He smiled again. "For our own number one knuckle head ninja."

Naruto laughed, smiling blissfully. Sakura grinned.

That night, while so many villagers celebrated the defeat of the Kyuubi so long ago, and fireworks glistened in the sky, three friends laughed, talked, and danced. There was a cake, and a candle, and three sets of flowing clothes, one blue, one orange, and one pink.


End file.
